Snippets
by streetlights and music
Summary: A set of drabbles/ficlets concerning Eri's friendship with Neku.


**Word Count:** 1909, not counting the breaks.

**Warnings:** None.

**Notes: **This was sitting out for months, and I wasn't going to let this go on until next year. So, here you go. I tried making a consistent story out of of it, but it didn't come out right. Hence the ficlets. It's not my best work, but I guess it'll do?

* * *

**i.**

He's certainly not the kind of guy she's been expecting.

His posture is stiff, as if he had just flinched. His hair is neatly kept in form, a shock of spiky orange that made him hard to miss in a crowd. His eyes share a bewildered – and almost guilty? – look in them. Eri's not sure what to make of that reaction. His hand reaches up; headphones cradling his neck like a security blanket.

He's a mess of violet and blue, accentuated by a ridiculously huge collar that's too criminal to be worn.

Eri gives him a curious look. Well. He's certainly interesting.

"Eri, this is Neku Sakuraba. You know, the guy I've been telling you about?" Shiki smiles, honest and sweet. She gestures a hand towards her friend as she turns to the violet-clad boy. "And Neku, I've already told you about Eri."

The boy blinks, bringing a hand up again to adjust his headset as his eyes dart between Eri and Shiki. "Right. Eri. Good to see you."

Eri gives him an amused smile, replaying the clipped tone of voice in her head. So this is the boy behind everything, huh? "It's nice to finally meet you, Neku."

Neku shrugs awkwardly and looks away. But there's definitely a hint of a smile there, and isn't that just darn cute?

**ii.**

Neku is a strange, strange boy, Eri concludes.

He shies away from her for the first few weeks. Not that they meet up a lot in the first place, but when they do, Neku is always on the opposite side of wherever she's standing. He gives her guilty looks, curious looks, and sometimes he just tries not to look at her direction at all.

Sometimes he mistakes her for Shiki, and what's stranger is that Shiki doesn't think that's weird in the least.

"Okay, what's up with that?" she asks him, hands on her waist.

Neku raises an eyebrow, as if he doesn't know what's going on. "What's up with what?"

"You know," Eri says, hands gesturing around to refer to the general situation. "This. Avoiding me, looking at me and then not. Accidentally calling me Shiki." She tilts her head. "When I don't even look anything like her."

Neku sputters and Shiki laughs, eyes twinkling like she's sharing an inside joke.

And Eri still doesn't get it.

**iii.**

Eri finds out one day that Neku makes for a good mannequin.

Well, maybe he's a little annoyed and a little unwilling, and he moves around too much at times, but _boy_ does he make a good model.

Even if his fashion sense is something that's left to be desired.

"Neku, turn around so I can lace the ribbons properly," Eri says. She tugs the ribbons a little harder to get his attention.

Neku doesn't like playing dress-up – he has voiced his opinion about it hundreds of times – but Eri can be scary sometimes and Shiki can be convincing, and it's not like he can turn them down anyway. "I wasn't born to be your dress-up doll," Neku says dryly. ("Ow! Watch the hair!")

"But you always let us convince you anyway," Shiki says, her voice light with laughter. ("Sorry! But your hair is just so _stiff_ with all the gel you put there.")

"And we know your measurements by heart now. It'll be a hassle to find another model," Eri says, grinning. She pulls at the ribbons behind Neku. "Just tell me if I'm tying them up too tightly."

Neku huffs, looking away and crossing his arms.

"Hold on, you loosened up the ribbons here," Shiki says. She approaches Neku and fixes the lavender strips on his hips. "Stop moving so much, Neku!"

"But I've been standing here for hours," Neku whines. "Why do you guys have to make such an… intricate dress anyway?"

"It's called fashion," Eri quips. "Now keep still. You're loosening the ribbons. _Again._"

**iv.**

She should have seen it coming a mile away. In fact, she _did_ see it coming, actually.

Eri gives an exasperated sigh. "I knew it. You're gonna go on a date dressed like… _that?_"

"Wh-what are you doing here? Why aren't you with Shiki?"

Eri rolls her eyes. Like it's not obvious. "I gotta make sure you don't embarrass her with that hideous excuse for an outfit."

Neku arches an eyebrow. And Eri can already tell what he's about to say next. "What's wrong with my-"

"Oh _please_. We all know you've got the fashion sense of a marshmallow." Eri stares down at him, hands on her hips. "You're going on a date with my best friend. I need to make sure you look _decent_."

"But I-"

Eri doesn't let him finish a word as she drags him to his wardrobe. She opens the doors and _prays_ that Neku has more variety in his arsenal than just JotM and Tigre Punks wear.

**v.**

She finds him alone in a secluded area, a little ways from WildKat. She's not much of a coffee person, but Neku and Shiki likes to hang out in that café because the barista is nice to them. And to her, by extension. She finds it a little weird how they all know so much and so little about each other, but she shrugs it off and think it's just one of those things she has yet to understand.

(There are many things Shiki doesn't share with her these days. Eri thinks it's kind of unfair, but she keeps quiet about it because she knows Shiki's life isn't obligated to revolve around her.)

There are newspapers scattered on the floor and paint splatters on his skin. He's too engrossed with his work to notice her watching him, and Eri wanted to watch him a little bit longer before announcing her presence. But as she turns to give one quick look at the wall, her quiet gasp gives her away.

"I didn't know you made this." Her eyes widen as she scrutinizes the mural. She nods to herself. "It's good."

Neku looks back at her and raises an eyebrow, a little startled to see her watching him. His hand stays still in midair when he asks, "I didn't know you look at these things."

"Hey!" Eri playfully shoves him, feigning hurt. "Art is art." She shrugs, looking back at the mural with arms crossed. It's urban-looking, very Shibuya-like, drawn in what Eri supposes is Neku's personal style. And yet in the core of it all is his inspiration, for his style is very reminiscent to someone else's. "It reminds me of CAT's murals."

"You know CAT?" His eyes widen slightly in surprise, and he's looking at her as if he's just seen Eri in a different light.

Eri looks at Neku like he suddenly grew two heads. "Everyone knows CAT."

"Well, yeah. I just," – he shakes his head, smiling – "I just didn't think you'd be into him."

"I like his style. It speaks to me." She walks up to the mural and touches the surface, immediately drawing back when she realizes the paint is not dry yet. She laughs at herself and turns to Neku. "It's what inspired me to look up fashion."

He stares at her, and it's probably the first time they ever had a proper conversation without Shiki acting as buffer.

**vi.**

She usually calls Shiki up on the phone, but now Neku is on her speed dial too.

He doesn't talk much because that's just how he is, but he doesn't mind listening to her go on and on about whatever comes to mind. She tries not to talk for too long, because she knows that Neku isn't the most patient person in the world. Honestly, she's not sure why Neku doesn't just hang up sometimes.

But there are times, though rare they may be, where Neku actually holds more than five minutes of conversation with her. Eri learns that she just needs to find the right words and the right topics; not everything she likes will get Neku going, but there are some that he'll reply to off the bat, much to her (and sometimes his) surprise. He may not be a fan of FEverything (he's obviously not one of the 100, 000 who visit his blog everyday), but he turns into a total fanboy when it comes to CAT, and he's knowledgeable in the many sights and food of Shibuya.

He has deep concerns to being called a spicy tuna roll, but Eri couldn't get it out of him why.

It becomes a challenge, at times, to get Neku to stay in a conversation for as long as possible.

It's fun.

**vii.**

"What happened?"

"She called it off. We're… better off as best friends anyway."

Eri stays silent. She doesn't know what to say.

"It's probably my fault though. You can slap me, if you want."

Her hand twitches, and Neku braces himself for the pain. But Eri doesn't hurt him, because Neku is as much a friend to her as Shiki is.

It almost breaks her heart to see her two best friends heartbroken. Almost, because she needs to stay strong. A broken heart can't fix another.

**viii.**

It is Neku who calls her up that day. That in itself is enough reason for Eri to bolt up from her bed at six in the morning.

"What's wrong?" she immediately asks. She can hear laughter coming from the other end.

"I was just thinking. Now that you and Shiki have your own style, maybe you could set up your own portfolio and, if you need a photographer…"

"You're just trying to get out of modeling our clothes." Eri crosses her arms, aware that Neku can't see her doing it. She huffs, but a wide smile spreads on her face.

"Come on! You can't expect me to keep doing this for you guys forever!"

"Try me."

Neku hangs up without missing a beat. Eri's laughter fills the room, the only sound accompanying it is the monotonous _beeeeeeep_ of the phone.

**ix.**

When Eri thinks of Neku, she thinks of violet and orange and music and paint.

Sometimes he ends up in her sketchbooks. Faded and sketchy at worst, detailed and defined at best. Sometimes he ends up in her dreams. She doesn't remember all of her dreams, but she knows that the ones he appears in are always good ones.

Most of the time he ends up in her heart, beat beat beating softly against her chest; noticed even when he doesn't try.

**x.**

There are many things Eri doesn't understand when it comes to Neku Sakuraba.

She doesn't understand how Shiki – her _best friend_ – had come to know Neku as if they were partners for life. How can you feel that way for someone when, as far as Eri could tell, they haven't even been friends for more than a week?

She doesn't understand how Neku – as antisocial as he is – had become the center of their little circle of friends. That circle where Eri had no idea she had become a member of. She hardly knows anyone else aside from Shiki, but they all welcomed her gladly as if she was a familiar face.

She doesn't know _what_ exactly happened, just that something did.

She's not sure how everything fell out of (into?) place. She knew, of course, that things were never perfect in the first place. Shiki's smile has never been this honest, her eyes never this bright. She has never been so alive before, and Eri knows this because she's her best friend. She knows her more than anyone else.

Honestly, she's starting to doubt how much of this is true anymore, because everything nowadays is too good to be true. But she doesn't complain, even when she doesn't get those inside jokes 90% of the time, because Shiki's smile is worth it.

(And Neku's may be worth it all, too.)


End file.
